STORY AND PHOTOS BY LINDSAY MCCALL
RIDING STRONG
Young Para-Dressage Athlete, Sydney Collier, Takes the “Dis” Out of Disabled
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n route to the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) para-equestrian dressage jog at the 2013 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, FL, a familiar entourage was following its high-performance rider and horse. Young United States para-equestrian, Sydney Collier, from Ann Arbor, MI, rolled up to the jog with her familyy by her side. Shadowed d from the bright Florida a sunshine by her new black Hanoverian, Wentworth, led by Wes Dunham, the moment could not have felt more complete. After a successful 2011 international show season, and the honor of the youngest competitor to ever qualify for a United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Para-Equestrian Dressage National Championship, the 15-year-old, Grade Ib rider was ready to take the 2013-2014 show season to a new level. In 2012, Sydney was too young to qualify for the Paralympic Team, making the upcoming 2014 Alltech® FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy, France, her first U.S. team opportunity. Sydney has lived her entire life overcoming obstacles, setting goals, and working hard to get there. At age seven, she was diagnosed with the rare congenital disorder, Wyburn-Mason Syndrome. The untreatable disorder can cause brain hemorrhaging, stroke, paralysis, and even death. With a rare disorder at a young age, Sydney has been in and out of the hospital often. She noted, “I have had to take on a lot more than the average person has by my age. That is what makes me, me, and makes me a strong and persevering person.” While Sydney was in the hospital, her mother, Anna Collier, always remembers Sydney focusing on
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| June 2013
5/14/13 4:06:54 PM